Agreed. Disabling the links is a good idea. There's really no good reason for someone to install packages manually. If a user really wants to mix release/devel, it is still technically possible but this change would strongly discourage it.
For ensuring the user notices that a page is for the devel version , I'm still in favor of the simple notification box. Probably without the option to hide forever. On Tue, Jul 22, 2014 at 9:26 AM, James W. MacDonald <jmac...@uw.edu> wrote: > Given that we have an ongoing problem with people inadvisedly clicking and > installing things, is there a good rationale for allowing them to do so? > > Perhaps the landing page for each package should be stripped of links and > replaced with some indication of the availability for each package on the > various operating systems. There could also be a note indicating that > people can install using biocLite(). > > Best, > > Jim > > > > > On 7/22/2014 11:48 AM, Dan Tenenbaum wrote: > >> Seems like there are two problems, first that the release and devel pages >> look similar, but more importantly that people are downloading and >> installing from the package pages when they should be using biocLite(). >> >> I am open to the suggestions for making the release/devel pages look more >> different from each other, but I think something needs to be done about the >> second problem as well. Perhaps a popup that comes up when you click on a >> package tarball saying "The best way to install this is with biocLite(); >> are you sure you want to download it?" >> >> Whatever we do probably won't happen until after BioC2014. >> >> Dan >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> >>> From: "Julian Gehring" <julian.gehr...@embl.de> >>> To: "Hervé Pagès" <hpa...@fhcrc.org>, "Michael Lawrence" < >>> lawrence.mich...@gene.com>, "Vincent Carey" >>> <st...@channing.harvard.edu> >>> Cc: bioc-devel@r-project.org >>> Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2014 8:07:29 AM >>> Subject: Re: [Bioc-devel] Distinction between release and devel package >>> websites >>> >>> Hi, >>> >>> Tooltips that appear while hovering over selected links are easy to >>> miss. This alone will likely not be clear enough. We should convey >>> the >>> information that the entire website presents a different version of >>> the >>> package. >>> >>> The idea of a notification box that can be made visible by the >>> individual user seems tempting. One can combine this with an >>> optional >>> cookie, to remember the state between browser sessions. >>> >>> Changing the layout of the devel page itself will also be helpful to >>> make the distinction more pronounced. Hopefully we could approach >>> this >>> in a way that maintains the nice design of the bioc website. >>> >>> Best >>> Julian >>> >>> >>> On 21.07.2014 21:50, Hervé Pagès wrote: >>> >>>> Hi, >>>> >>>> In addition to these suggestions, how about using a special >>>> background >>>> color for package landing pages in devel? >>>> >>>> Cheers, >>>> H. >>>> >>>> On 07/21/2014 07:32 PM, Michael Lawrence wrote: >>>> >>>>> Or an unobtrusive "notification box" that drops down from the top >>>>> of the >>>>> page, saying something like "this is devel"; there would be a >>>>> dismiss >>>>> button and a checkbox for whether to show again. The user is free >>>>> to >>>>> simply >>>>> ignore it and proceed as normal. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On Mon, Jul 21, 2014 at 7:10 PM, Vincent Carey >>>>> <st...@channing.harvard.edu> >>>>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> how about a tooltip that reads "installation via biocLite() is >>>>>> the >>>>>> recommended approach to Bioconductor software >>>>>> acquisition, other approaches may lead to inconsistent >>>>>> package-sets" >>>>>> that >>>>>> appears when a reader hovers over a tarball. i would imagine >>>>>> that >>>>>> this is >>>>>> how the "wrong package" gets installed, by manually using an >>>>>> inappropriate >>>>>> tarball. >>>>>> >>>>>> wrong documentation is not so easy but the doc on the devel >>>>>> branch might >>>>>> have a different tooltip cautioning the readers to be sure they >>>>>> want to >>>>>> read the doc on the devel version. >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> On Mon, Jul 21, 2014 at 9:39 PM, Julian Gehring >>>>>> <julian.gehr...@embl.de> >>>>>> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> Hi, >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Can we make the package websites for the devel and release >>>>>>> version of a >>>>>>> package more distinguishable? >>>>>>> >>>>>>> To elaborate on this: In the past, I have seen several users >>>>>>> having >>>>>>> problems with using bioconductor because they ended up on the >>>>>>> wrong >>>>>>> page >>>>>>> (mostly the devel page when they would have needed the release). >>>>>>> This >>>>>>> resulted in getting the wrong documentation or installing the >>>>>>> wrong >>>>>>> package. The pages are well designed, and there is no reason to >>>>>>> change >>>>>>> this. However, the websites for the devel and release version >>>>>>> of a >>>>>>> >>>>>> package >>>>>> >>>>>>> look almost identical, and that these two get confused seems to >>>>>>> happen to >>>>>>> many users (me included). >>>>>>> >>>>>>> If you search for a package within the bioc website, the release >>>>>>> version >>>>>>> always comes first in the search results. If you are coming >>>>>>> from the >>>>>>> outside (e.g. google), this may not be the case. In fact, >>>>>>> googling >>>>>>> a few >>>>>>> packages names often returned only the devel page in the top 10 >>>>>>> search >>>>>>> results. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> What are the feelings regarding this? We could add a header >>>>>>> section on >>>>>>> >>>>>> the >>>>>> >>>>>>> devel page that states that this is an unstable version not >>>>>>> meant to be >>>>>>> used in production settings, and provide a link to the >>>>>>> respective >>>>>>> release >>>>>>> version? >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Best wishes >>>>>>> Julian >>>>>>> >>>>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>>>> Bioc-devel@r-project.org mailing list >>>>>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/bioc-devel >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>> [[alternative HTML version deleted]] >>>>>> >>>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>>> Bioc-devel@r-project.org mailing list >>>>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/bioc-devel >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>> [[alternative HTML version deleted]] >>>>> >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> Bioc-devel@r-project.org mailing list >>>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/bioc-devel >>>>> >>>>> >>>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Bioc-devel@r-project.org mailing list >>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/bioc-devel >>> >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> Bioc-devel@r-project.org mailing list >> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/bioc-devel >> >> > -- > James W. MacDonald, M.S. > Biostatistician > University of Washington > Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences > 4225 Roosevelt Way NE, # 100 > Seattle WA 98105-6099 > [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
_______________________________________________ Bioc-devel@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/bioc-devel
